By the time this album was released, the group had branched out a bit from their punk-influenced pop music stylings and grouchy personal-relationship-based lyrics. Half the songs on this album (among them "Dead Loss Angeles'', "Nuclear Device," "Shah Shah a Gogo," and "Genetix") spout verses critical of social or political issues. Only the first of these four numbers, with its clipped vocal delivery and stripped-down, bass-heavy arrangement, shows significant Brit-punk influence. Certain songs here exhibit strong mainstream tendencies with no hardcore sensibilities whatsoever, such as "Duchess" (a tuneful power pop number with clear chart-oriented influences) and "Don't Bring Harry" (a slow-tempo, piano-dominated selection). Still other influences can be seen in "Meninblack," a Devo-derived number featuring a synthesized clipped beat/electronic pulse texture, chilly and sanitized-sounding organ, lockstep drums, and Alvin and the Chipmunks-style sped-up vocals. The intriguing "Ice" boasts interesting production touches and an inventively dubious tonal focus. The songs are lengthy, with at times prolix instrumental openings and interludes. Sound quality on the EMI America re-release is uneven at times, with occasional distortion in the drums and percussive low synthesizer. This is a generally good album worth hearing. Original pressings of this release have a 3-D picture on the front cover. Approximately half the songs on this album would be reissued one year later on the U.S. label release IV.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts of the Week
-
History They originally called themselves The Reactionaries , with additional band member and singer Martin Tamburovich. According to Watt, ...
-
Wheatus is Wheatus' first album, released on 15 August 2000. Three singles were released off the album: Wheatus' biggest hit "...
-
Gothic is the second full-length album released by British doom metal band Paradise Lost. It is a seminal work, being one of the major infl...
-
New ep is recorded by two good musician John Darnielle and John Vanderslice, this EP is a concept album about organ harvesting colonies on t...
-
Do you ever dream that you are dancing like a professional dancer on a dance floor? Then, you'll fall in love with Soft Cell The Twelve ...
-
Nirvana's Nevermind may have been the album that broke grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream, but there's no underestimat...
-
Calexico, a Tucson collective of musicians focused around Joey Burns and John Convertino, forged an eclectic identity through their explorat...
1 COMMENTS:
Pass = crunchiedo
Post a Comment